To take on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, we must liberate Hodeidah

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A Pro-government Yemeni soldier fires a machine gun near the city of Al Hajjah in Yemen's Hodeidah provinceCredit:
NABIL HASSAN/ AFP

The Arab Coalition is responding to a request from Yemen’s President to liberate the Port of Hodeidah and return it to the control of the country’s legitimate government.

This is a last resort only after extensive diplomatic efforts have been exhausted, and indeed the only reasonable option left open. Hodeidah is the principal gateway for the illegal Iranian arms flow to Houthi militia, who have stepped up their use of sophisticated Iranian missile and drone attacks into Saudi Arabia in recent months. During this time, it has become abundantly clear that the UN’s Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM) has failed to staunch the flow of arms and material to Iran’s proxy forces...